95-5 the Beat Spinning Fast

[RadioDoogie]

Why does 95-5 the Beat spin its music faster than normal? I think I asked this awhile back. It is really annoying listening to music that goes faster than its supposed to. Does anyone else agree? I know that WFBC/B93.7 in Greenville, SC does this and KBKS/106.1 Kiss FM in Seattle does this. However these three stations do well in the books. I wonder if they would capture an even bigger audience if their music was played at a normal rate of speed?

 

[Mr_Place]

Stations play the music faster (about 2% faster) because it's thought to add energy and fun to the on-air sound.

It often works. Most people can't hear the difference.

 

[grmf]

You can also play more songs an hour while still playing 12-14 minutes of commercials.

 

[llewow]

...and, if your competition doesn't spin faster, they sound slower and lower energy to the listener who punches in and out. It's an old trick that always seemed to work.

 

[Stewy]

Works well, what was the engineering phrase from back in the day..."put the turn tables on speed"?

 

[htowler]

WQBT in Savannah does this too. Odd to see an Urban do it though

 

[Twitch]

I never thought any Urban stations would do it. I had always thought that was a CHR/Top 40 (or even Rhythmic) thing.

 

[tigermichal]

The Beat is more of a CHR/Rhythmic and they usally speed songs up, I know Russ Parr Morning show, and Urban radio show speeds up the songs in the morning

 

[whit979]

What kind of system is used to speed up these songs?

 

[littlejohn]

Most broadcast CD players have speed adjustment on then. Storage systems can be told to play back at any speed. In the day, both QRK and Studio-Pro made incremental oversize motor pulleys available for theit turntables. All the Technics tables were variable, either internally or from the control panel. In the Real Old Days, a steady hand could put a piece of splicing tape on the motor pulley of the turntables and cut it square with an X-acto so it didn't 'thump'. It's far from a new idea.

 

[andyfrom88]

None of our music is sped up, unless the DJ sets the vinyl at the wrong speed.

 

[jal41]

What kind of system is used to speed up these songs?

Nowadays I would suspect computer software. Many programs that ordinary people use to play MP3's often have speed configurations built-in or via a downloadable plugin.

Most radio stations play music via computers with music stored on hard drives, so I would suspect an adjustment to the software setting is all that it is.

 

[the golden boy]

I never thought any Urban stations would do it. I had always thought that was a CHR/Top 40 (or even Rhythmic) thing.

Doesn't WIBB in Macon speed up songs? Not very many urban stations do it, but I know the Box in Houston is one of the few that do (or at least the last time I heard them). A lot of country stations also speed up songs, so it's not exclusive to just CHR.